She seemed like a contender going into it. She had the confidence and the personal style at least. She was going on and on about her taste and her skills, so we were all set to see something impressive come off her dress form.

Model: Kelly Gervais

Well.

That's one way to impress us.

Just about everything that could be wrong about a look is wrong with this look, from styling to fabric choice to execution.

Let's start at the top: hair and makeup. If she was trying to make her teenage model in 2009 look like a middle-aged woman in 1950, mission accomplished.

And while we always love seeing color on the runway, there are good colors and bad colors. We could be talked into the idea that maybe on their own, these fabric choices wouldn't be horrible (okay, maybe not so much on the shiny blue), but putting them together does terrible things to them.

Our advice would have been to maximize the use of that print, which does have potential to make a nice dress if it's used correctly, and minimize the use of that blue. In fact, we would have advised against the blue at all because it's so matchy. And shiny. And just...well...blue. Really, really blue.

As for all that draping and twisting, she had too much of it for one dress and as Michael pointed out, she made the weird choice to have each element sewn into the seams, which had kind of a weird effect.

And she gave us quite the titscrepancy to boot. Her boobs look like they're having an argument.

The worst sin of all, the whole thing simply wasn't finished well. It always amazes us how often the contestants on this show will go straight for the shiny, knowing how unforgiving it is of the slightest technical flaws.

It's possible she's as good as she says and she simply went off in too many directions faced with the crazy pace and the cameras. It happens. Even so, it's an auf'ing that made perfect sense to us.

That dress reminded me of the illegitamate child of Krystal's trainwreck (of the same fabric and weird pairing) and the "pooping fabric" mess from the biker chick and I-can't-remember-his name from Season 5.

Another so called designer who lacks skills and enough practice with fabric and sewing to know a hem needs pressing. Far too may short dresses that look like they are designing for a cheer leading squad or a dance team. It was the best show ever in terms of obvious skill and training rather than a gathering of wannabes.

I can see influences from everyday dress in some African countries, but (and I thought the same with Korto sometimes, when she trotted out solid bright green dresses and whatnot) there has to be some translation for Western tastes if you want to sell the product here rather than there. And that was just the first of MANY mistakes in this outfit.

Uli would've knocked it out of the park with this print. The shiny blue wouldn't have been offensive had it been used in a VERY minimal way. I'm also never a fan of 2 different things going on with the boobs...it always serve to make them look lopsided. I have a hard-enough time getting my boobs straight in my bra, I don't need the added pressure of dueling designs on each one!

This just screams Bridge & Tunnel secretary, night on the town, circa 1986. (If she was going to go there, she should have gone all the way there with big hair & big earrings.)

She was right about one thing though: In that clip she mentioned using a belt. I think it actually would have looked better with a belt. All those things sewn into the waist seem would have been less jarring.

Jordan, you beat me to it. I hate to say she has an unsophisticated color and print sense based on one garments but....damn. As my grandmother would say, "that's an interesting choice of texture and color."

And six gables, you are absolutely right. The draping sewn into the seams looked incredibly cheap. Forever 21 would stick it on the back of a rack.

But how great is it that the first eliminated contestant was sent home for sending something that looked cheap and mass produced down the runway? Nothing was see-through, incomplete, or a serial killer's body disposal couture. All in all, I liked most of the garments.

I'm southern, so I'm too superstitious to say that Project Runway is back. But you can at least see a shadow of its former fabulousness!

Am I the only one who was surprised to see her go? Yes, the dress has *tons* of problems. But it also had a point of view and looked unusual... which is more than I can say for some of the other things that walked down the runway.

Yeah, this was a clear choice. Glad that the judging was clear on that. I definitely saw what she was going for, but the execution really hit her hard. When I saw the the drape disappearing into the seam, I knew it was over. At least Jesus' dress was well made, if cliche.

I like the idea of the draped wrap of bold print over the solid dress...just wasn't executed well, as well, the solid blue was just way too blue and shiny. I'd have liked to have seen more draping of the print rather than how she seamed it into the dress's seams below. No real flow to it...awkward and choppy.

I don't think Christianne's was the worst of the designs though (I really hated Janeane's, Jay's, Mila's...and was bored by a few others)...but I guess technically she was the worst and with the other flaws was the obvious choice to go. Too bad... :(

I agree that the fabric is wrong, Silk charmuese just doesn't have enough body for a fitted strapless( or Wilma) sheath. But I don't think she should have gone home for this dress. It looks very similar to the winner, really.

In preseason, I pegged this woman to go home first... BUT then I took it all back when I saw her finished garment. Not that it was good in any way, shape, or form, but no way was it as bad as other stuff I saw flapping down the runway. There was some kind of three-piece atrocity with an orange top--the Disney pirate's?--that was absolutely unforgivable. WAY worse than this. I'll have to see the screen caps to I.D.

Oh dear.I actually really like her and had hoped that she would do well on the show.But my first reaction upon seeing her garment was to wince (I rarely have a physical reaction like that) and say "holy crap that's awful." I'm not overly critical of clothing but this thing was... painful to look at.Poor girl. Maybe it was the time crunch that go her? I haven't gotten to watch the episode yet but my curiosity has been piqued.

She didn't stay long enough for me to like or dislike her, this Christine, but I was amazed at her lack of self-awareness. Not only did she realize what an awful dress that was, which is okay, she made it herself (but surely, she saw the hem, didn't she?). She was actually convinced that it was the best out there and she was in for the win.I really do not get these people...- Dan

I have to disagree - I really thought Jesus was the clear loser. (Am I going to go to hell for that sentence?) This was at least interesting to me - his was Tackyville USA. Ah well, neither of them were/are likely to go far.

I thought there were worse dresses on the runway last night. Pamela's pink disaster? YIKES... but agree, it wasn't the best showing she could have done. Still, I'd have let others auf before her to see what she could do.

What I wish terribly is one season if they surprise everyone after the first runway show and not send anyone home, giving them one more shot and one time to get used to the cameras, time constraints and nerves involved...

This was not the worst thing on the runway - that would have to be Baby Jesus' hideous crocodile thing. But I guess since he "had a point of view" he got the pass. That, and he's cute and young.

But the auf was understandable and she was going home early anyway, based on her portfolio, which was truly tacky beyond belief. Based on that she was one of the ones I had pegged to make a quick exit.

Sorry that her model got the auf also. Ping should have chosen her instead of that drudge who walked for her.

Disagree with me if you must, but I really do believe that the construction issues are what got her auf'd. From what I could tell last night in my half-sleepy haze, Jesus' dress was constructed MUCH better than her's.

Poorly designed, poorly executed, horrid fabric choices. Yes, Anthony did create a mess, and Jesus...ugh. But this was obviously the weakest thing on the runway. Well, as obvious as anything could be, considering the awful editing job done during the runway show. Kudos to Christiane for keeping so calm when she got a result the exact opposite of what she was so very confident she'd be getting. I wish her luck, but that dress was just...sad. Just sad, and uglier every time I look at it, and I love the color blue. Blergh. Sayonara!

I do agree that it was worse than the dress of the Blessed Baby Jesus, but if we're talking construction and taste...Janeane should have lost by a LONG shot. Go look at that thing with the awesome magnifying glass they let you use on Rate the Runway (thanks, Lifetime!). She must have shown some marvelous spark of crazy to get a stay of execution. That "blouse" looks like it's about to wink out of existence and the skirt appears to just be a series of pleats belted on like a traditional kilt.

Christiane's dress wasn't quite as offensive to me as Jesse's. It's one thing to send an ill-fitting, ugly look down the runway, but it's quite another to do so while talking about how perfectly tailored it is!

I really liked Jesse's outfit... It was tailored. And cute. Great color combination and showed his point of view. And well-executed as I still not understand how it didn't fell off her models shoulders.

The difference between Jesus' "Hershey Bar" and this is that the "big piece of alligator luggage" fit and had no seam puckering and was hemmed.

I see many of us have traumatic memories from our youths of dresses like this; mine comes in the form of a dress a childhood enemy made for 4H spring fashion show, a formal made of olive-green sateen coat lining and orange and olive green print chintz. It is,shall we say, not the product of taste refined over time and exposure to the good stuff.

Since it was just a bulkier version of a Qristyl outfit? Also it looked like things I've seen in Ashro and other predominatedly inexpensive African American clothing catalogs with poly suits and Sunday Church hats?

I am NOT giving a pass to "white trailer trash" clothing, just saying that sweats, message t-shirts and "cheap and slutty" fit that demo better.

Yeah, I can't disagree with this aufing at all. I could almost get behind that blue fabric, if it were used well, despite it having a kinda prommy feel to it, and I might have liked the patterned fabric used in a different way, but once they were put together I was fairly sure I wouldn't like the dress. When I saw how they were put together, though, it was actually worse than I imagined, sadly. The fit and the lack of finish then killed it entirely.

I know some people don't think it was the worst thing up there, but that's a lot of error to cram into one dress.

So said...."She made her anorexic model look FAT."***********************************

And disfigured.

Lulu said...Am I the only one who was surprised to see her go? ***********************************

Absolutely not, Lulu. I had high hopes for Christiane and thought she was cute as a button and seemed sweet (as if they're relevant to good design skills --- but I'm shallow like that).

However, in hindsight, her portfolio was lacking --- sophistication, reasonable editting, color sense and the ability to work properly with patterned fabrics. I'm super sorry to see Christiane go, but competition on the runway was stiff and her work was lacking.

Wasn't this EXACT color combination with the shiny satin electric blue and gaudy print that was the death-knell for Qrystal last season? Why do so many "experienced" designers use this crappy satin fabric that puckers and pulls and basically looks cheap?

All the comments about 80s/Jersey/Long Island reminded me of Joan Cusack in Working Girl telling Melanie Griffith her dress "needs more bows or something." Tim was practically begging Christiane to dial it down and she just kept piling that shit on!!!

That dress was a disaster, but I thought Jesus's was flat-out FUGLY. I wanted the judges to keep her and Auf him and thus spare us a slew of truly terrible quinceañera dresses, but it was also a relief to see the judges taking major points off for technical mistakes between two outfits of similarly bad taste.

Tim told her to make sure it was executed pefectly...how do you not finish the hem properly??? Geez. And the styling was WHACK! Poor Kelly, she shouldn't have gone home first, gorgeous model. Loved the previews on Models...looks like we might have some good drama this season!Kelleykat

I commented on this in the winning post (I got used to winner and loser in the same post with LML - brrrrr) and echo most comments here. Lacking any sophistication while saying it's sophisticated, Christiane needs a reality check. Good choice for the auf.

And yes, Ping should have chosen this model than the clueless elf who walked for her.

GothamTomato on 1/15/10 at 10:42 AM said...This just screams Bridge & Tunnel secretary, night on the town, circa 1986. (If she was going to go there, she should have gone all the way there with big hair & big earrings.)

To me this just screams stereotypical TACKY FLORIDA! I have seen this dress at a million cocktail parties and a couple of wedding receptions worn by attendees who do not usually go to cocktail parties or wedding receptions but for some reason had to go to this one in particular. This is one of those dresses that WOULD SELL because someone who does not normally buy this type of dress (or dresses at all for that matter) would see it at Nordstrom and think it was "chic" because it is colorful & shinny. Who is this someone..other than one of the Real Housewives of Orange County...some resort beach bar tender that lives and works on the beach and needs a "fancy dress" to go to some "shindig" in Tampa or Miami. It is nice to know these people also exist in New Jersey.

Going back and looking at her portfolio, you can definitely see where this dress originates. There are two pieces in her portfolio in which she uses a patterned fabric twisted and pulled with a solid color fabric.

The challenge was to produce a looks that would tell the judges who they are as designers. They could have created anything, but most chose pretty dresses

1/15/10 1:07 PM

I was thinking the same thing. They could have made anything - even menswear!!!And they all chose a pretty dress, except Ping, at least her's was different, although totally puzzling.

I wonder what Jay, Austin, Wendy (just kidding!!), Chris March, Christian, Jillian, Leanne, would have done with this challenge. I know what Uli and Rami would have done, but they would have been lovely, I am sure.

That is the only thing that bothered me about last night - have a little courage, folks!! You had a chance to show who you were, and you chose hot pink, khaki-looking skirt,other ho-hum clothes to make. Please - let them get more interesting!!

I don't understand the fabric choices. It looks like she went for the color when picking the fabric as they had little time to choose. On top of that I think she is more used to having someone else sew her designs. I think she could have made something with the same fabrics that did not suck but is unused to the pressure and time crunch. I hope she does well in the future and finds her niche. As someone above pointed out, the Sunday church crowd would eat her color conscious design style right up. All she has to do is make a matching hat.

Mila & Jesse made separates and included jackets.The problem is that 12 h. is really little time to do anything other than a dress if you want it too shine. Too risky to go with trousers or mega-taylored outwear with so little time and in a first challenge....

Totally agreed with this aufing. Loved the winning dress, although my pick would have been Mila-- I think she's going to be my favorite. I liked Seth Aaron's dress, but I liked it just as much when I saw it in Season Three. I wonder when he's going to get his neck tattoo.

Yeah, tacky + poor construction = auf. I didn't disagree with the judges on this one. Glad to see our beloved judges back where they belong! Good judges make a big difference, don't they (and no, I'm not talking about Heidi)?

Last season everyone complained that there was too much black. Now this dress is too blue. Come on, already. Make up your minds.

This was not the worst dress, though the bottom hem was really badly sewn. Nor was it the most boring dress ("don't bore Nina," remember?) -- that honor goes to the black on top (white on bottom?) dress of the girl who couldn't stop crying every five minutes. Talk about blah and forgettable!

This dress was certainly not great but I think Amy (unfortunately, because I liked her) and Janeane could/should have been right there with her.As for Christiane's dress, titscrepency aside, I kind of like the idea of the patterned fabric going into the seems. I can't really think of a way she could have salvaged the garment. Tim pointed out in his blog once she chose the fabric, she was stuck with it, so he didn't mention it since nothing could be done. I want to know what her other three fabrics were, though.Oh well, it stinks to be the first. Although I wasn't too into her portfolio, it did stand out above a few others for me.

Christiane's dress really had the trifecta of bad going for it -- bad fabrics, bad design, bad constructions. It didn't fit at all. It bunched and wrinkled as the model walked in it. The fabrics were too shiny, especially for such a short time frame; the shinier the fabric, the more unforgiving. And her construction was not only sloppy, but so was her attention to detail -- the hem looked awful, and an ironing would have helped a lot. Although nothing, really, could save it because of the awful design.

And it's a shame because I liked her personality and I liked her use of bold colors. But she didn't really get anything else at all right. At least Jesus' construction was good, albeit problematic with that afterthought lengthening, and his dress fit his model. It was good to see that, when given the choice of a bunch of bad designs, the one that was most poorly executed was auf'd first.

I think her going sends a nice tidy message to rest of the cast about the judges pet peeves "be wary of the shiny, edit and mind the hem". Therefore I thought she was and ok choice for elimination even if she tried to be more ambitious than some of the others and somewhat different.

Sewing Siren said... "It looks very similar to the winner, really."

What makes you think that? I hope I'm not sounding snotty, I really am curious. They look different to me but then again I don't wear dresses and I've never made one in my life.

She was the right choice to go. I agree that the format of the competition may just have been all wrong for her, because I never would have seen a garment like this coming from her based on her portfolio. Just terribly put together. Hopefully she'll have better success in the real world.

Its an old adage--you can often save a crummy design with excellent execution, but you can never save shoddy execution with a good design. The idea of the dress was ok, and I kinda lked the colors of the print, and even that blue. But it was so poorly put together that nothing could have saved it. The Hershey Bar dress was totally hideous, but it was very well constructied--the bodice fit perfectly; even at the collarbones! So, Jesus was saved. Yes--Christianne seemed nice, aside from her big ego. it does suck to be first. I wish her well.

I am also giddy that Anna came up with a darling little dress. I'm so proud...

Christiane was an absolutely lovely person but I understand the auf. Her dress looked like a knee-length Speedo swimsuit with accessories thoughtfully chosen from the Wal-Mart Clearance Window Treatment accessories wall.

Jesus' dress fit his model well, I think he just made the wrong decision adding length, and completely effed up on the fabric choice - my fiance and I dubbed his dress the "Crocodile Fart."

What makes you think that? I hope I'm not sounding snotty, I really am curious. They look different to me but then again I don't wear dresses and I've never made one in my life.

HLB

It doesn't sound snotty.

I don't think they are carbon copies or anything, but to my eye they have a lot of similarities.*They are both made from solid colored fabric with a complimentary colored patterned fabric. *They are both "Wilmas" (one shouldered dress).*They are the exact same length.*Both of them have tconstruction seams bisecing the design elements.

Clearly the winning dress is sewn much better, but the two models look like they are dressed to go to the same party.

Well, I don't get it - I can't defend the dress, but there were so many other dresses that suffered from the same poor execution and tackiness problems that weren't in the bottom 3. I mean, Jay's? With the fabric balls hanging off it? Amy's? With the two different boobs? Anna's absolutely anonymous contribution? Even Ben's so-so dress had a lousy hem.

And let's not talk about the taste level of Mila's "look at all the fabrics I got to play with" statement or Pamela's Pink Matron look.

I'm jumping the gun because I trust you boys will be all over these gems in the week ahead. But I would have sent Anna home before Christiane.

The second the lights hit this, I gasped and said "Auf." I can't sew, and I think I can sew better than this. Eek!(A little side P.S.--yes, Anthony is entertaining, but needs to step up her construction skills pronto. Giving great quote is not enough--damn lucky that Christiane jumped in front of the speeding train this week.)

I feel like any tradition of color, texture or shape that isn't either very Western European or modern Japanese is considered not just different but bad and wrong.

I'm not sure about this, since so far it has also been paired with people whose execution skills are questionable. But does anyone care about *world* fashion? I feel like Gordana, Ulli, and Korto have all gotten short shrift for being *different* in their approach to color.

"The problem is that 12 h. is really little time to do anything other than a dress if you want it too shine. Too risky to go with trousers or mega-taylored outwear with so little time and in a first challenge...."**********************************

Good point. I thought about pants or a perhaps a good strong pair of trousers being missing from the lineup, but realized that it would've taken a good 2-3 hours more to execute something really stunning or strong enough to make a statement on the first challenge. There will be plenty of other challenges.

the unfortunate thing is that kelly the model was auf'd as well-- ping should've picked her and not that bland, sour-faced, woes me model who pretty much said she wasn't feeling her designer's (ping's) clothes.

Somehow this dress managed to be BOTH a shotgun wedding between two different dresses (both bad) AND too matchy-matchy (the same, wrong, blue in the print and solid). Part of the blame goes to Christine's nearly exact 50-50 ratio between the fabrics. As I dimly recall from a graphic design 101 class ages ago, you take your main color/fabric/print whatever, and then you add a smaller ratio of accent. Unless you are going for a pure harlequin effect, which hardly ever works as anything but a costume (and I saw several of THOSE in the "safe" category), 50-50 is just not visually pleasing.

I expected even more matchy-matchy in the styling than it got -- pure church lady aesthetic, with royal blue hat, shoes and bag -- not saying that would help, but it would have been a point of view, even if the wrong POV.

That's the only reason I can imagine that the martian shoulder dress and the big pink kite stayed in the "safe" group -- ghastly as they were, they did scream "point of view." And I just can't wait for Nina and the Duchess to lay into THEM.

There was no way this was ever going to work. It's just bad design. Usually I can think of a change or two, or a different approach, or better execution that would improve a dress, but this is just destined for the rag bin.

The thing that baffles me is that it is at odds with her personal style. Look at what she is wearing: nicely coordinated and accessorized, good colors and fabrics, etc. Also, I remember her portfolio as being pretty strong and I wouldn't think that if it had looked like this.

I agree with the auf'ing and all, I just think it's a shame that she's gets put into a group characterized by Ari Fish's disco soccer ball and that creepy guy's "serial killer's body disposal couture" as Whitney so aptly put it.

Silk charmeuse is a sumbitch to sew. You need superfine needles & delicate silk thread. And it hates to be sewn, so that every little mistake gives it an excuse to screech & pucker.

If she had used actual African designs for the construction,it wouldn't have been such a catastrophe. Real African designs involve draping, yes, but most importantly they involve volume. This dress tried to be skin tight, which proved to be her undoing.

Maybe I'm too middle of the road, but I thought that Ping's outfit was horrendous and just looked like she threw her fabric at the model and called it a day. I don't get how she was not only NOT bottom 3, but top 3?! Also, the editing seemed weird and I half way wondered if they altered it to keep the "unique" designer around.

I liked the top part of the dress, the draping and twisting worked, but sewing the draping into the seams and giving it abrupt starts and stops in the bottom half ruined it. It could have worked if the material wasn't satin and the draping from the top was unbroken all the way down, giving it flow and continuity.

I can see influences from everyday dress in some African countries, but (and I thought the same with Korto sometimes, when she trotted out solid bright green dresses and whatnot) there has to be some translation for Western tastes if you want to sell the product here rather than there. And that was just the first of MANY mistakes in this outfit.

Auf-worthy.

-----------That's one of the stupidest comments I've ever read.

What do you mean there's no market for bright, flowy, African-inspired clothing in the Western World? The fashion game is filled with all types of styles for a market with a universal variety of tastes.

Saying that there no market out there for non-Africans is not only wrong, but also racist.

Add me to the list of people who think this dress looks like the one Qristyl made on the first challenge last season. It suffered from the same problems. Lovely fabrics that MAY have worked together- but the final result was no good. Which is sad, since Christiane is a lovely woman and I would have liked to have seen more of her. But the execution was the final nail on the coffin.

I actually got to meet Christiane on the night of the premiere at her party in Beverly Hills. And after reading these posts I had to share my experience. First of all, she's an absolutely delightful person. Nothing like the arrogant girl who was portrayed through the clips shown in PR7 episode 1. And if you could have seen her upscale party with several celebrity guests, some that were even wearing Christiane's designs, you would have never imagined that she was the first one to be eliminated! (Google 'Christiane King fashion party' the pictures are all over the internet). Project Runway alum Nick Verreos was also in attendance and he shared similar thoughts on his blog (Google 'Nick Verreos attends Christiane King'). Through my conversation with Christiane I learned that she actually sewed every piece that you see on her website. Say what you will about fabric choices or limitations as the case may have been, but I am seriously struggling to understand all the construction criticism that started with the judges and is being echoed here and all over the internet (run the Lifetime magnifying glass over all the designs including Christiane's and you'll see what I'm talking about). And let's not confuse the need for some additional pressing with poor construction. It simply doesn't add up. I hope that at least some of you will take the time recognize what's going on and will appreciate the true talent that Christiane possesses. The good thing is that Christiane herself didn't seem the slightest bit worried about her elimination as she was surrounded by people admiring her designs all night. As Nick Verreos also said, I think Christiane is going to be just fine!